1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: a show that proves there's more than one way to 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: make history. I'm Gabelusier, and today we're talking about the 5 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: rise and fall of Milli Vanilli, a German French R 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: and B duo who became global pariahs for not actually 7 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:47,919 Speaker 1: singing their songs. The day was November nineteen. The National 8 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: Academy of Recording, Arts and Sciences rescinded the Grammy Award 9 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: for Best New Artists from pop duo Milli Vanilli. It 10 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: was the first time in the history of the Grammys 11 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 1: that an award had been taken away. This unprecedented move 12 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: came just four days after the duo's producer, Frank Farrian, 13 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: revealed in a press conference that they hadn't sung a 14 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: single note on the debut album for which they had 15 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: won the award. The public and the Academy had been 16 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: under the impression that all the singing on the nine 17 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: album Girl You Know It's True was performed by the 18 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: two frontmen of Millie Vanilly, Rob Pilotis and Fabrice Morvin 19 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: a k A. Fab. In reality, the male vocals were 20 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: provided by three uncredited singers, Charles Shaw, John Davis and 21 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: Brad Howell. To be clear, it's not that uncommon in 22 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: the entertainment industry for the work of numerous contributors to 23 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: be overshadowed by the more public facing members of a production. 24 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: Sometimes times an album is recorded by studio musicians instead 25 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: of the touring members of a band, and many performers 26 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 1: lip sync their songs on stage to prevent sounding out 27 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: of breath during their complicated dance routines. The difference with 28 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: Milli Vanilli is that they didn't credit these behind the 29 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: scenes contributors where it counts the most. In the liner 30 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: notes of their album. The credits in their multi platinum 31 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: debut album simply read vocals Fab and Rob. Academy president 32 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: Michael Green specifically cited this as the official reason for 33 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: stripping the duo of their award. He explained, quote, I 34 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: think that if Milli Vanilli just had a line that 35 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: said Millie Vanilli is with a list of all the 36 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: real singers, not just Fab and Rob, we would have 37 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: never taken this action. Our action is predicated on a 38 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: falsification of label credit. So why didn't the duo credit 39 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: the real singers. According to Rob Pilotis, it wasn't just 40 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,520 Speaker 1: an oversight, but an intentional act. A few days after 41 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: Farian revealed the deception, Pelotis told the l a Times quote, 42 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: we sold our souls to the devil. We lied to 43 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,079 Speaker 1: our families and our friends. We let down our fans. 44 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: We realize exactly what we did to achieve our success. 45 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: We made some very big mistakes, and we apologize. The 46 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: devil in question was allegedly none other than Frank Farian. 47 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: The German musician and songwriter had made a career out 48 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: of pairing attractive performers with other people's vocals. In the 49 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, Afarian put together a German disco group called 50 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: bony M. The group's vocals were ostensibly provided by four 51 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: Caribbean singers, but in reality it was Farian himself singing 52 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: on the group's first album. When that ruse paid off, 53 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: Farian decided to do it again, and when he met 54 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: the dancers slash models Rob and Fab in early he 55 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: knew he had found the faces of his next big act. 56 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: It's a matter of public knowledge that Farian signed Robin 57 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: Fab to a record deal, but it's unclear at which point, 58 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: the duo knew that they wouldn't actually be singing on 59 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: the album. According to Fab, they had no idea they 60 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: had been hired just a lip sync. Varian had played 61 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: them an instrumental version of the Girl You Know It's 62 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: True album, which he already had recorded and ready to go. 63 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: When Rob and Fab signed the contract, they say they 64 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: were under the impression they would really be providing the 65 00:04:55,080 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: vocals for that album, despite them being dancers not singers. However, 66 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: it later turned out that Farion had also recorded vocals 67 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: with professional singers earlier that year. Fab says that by 68 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: the time he and Rob figured out what was going on, 69 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,239 Speaker 1: they had already spent the advance money for the album 70 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: and couldn't back out of the project until they had 71 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: paid their debt to Ferian. What none of them expected 72 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: Ferion included was that the Milli Vanilli album would become 73 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: a huge success. They figured it would be played in 74 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: German nightclubs and discothexts, but would never find an audience 75 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: large enough to discover or care about the misattributed vocals. However, 76 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: Girl you Know It's True shot to number one in Germany, 77 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: and it wasn't long after that the group signed a 78 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: deal with Arista Records. When Girl You Know It's True 79 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: was released in the US, Millie Vanilli scored five top 80 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: five hits on the Billboard Hot one hundred and the 81 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: album sold over six million copies, with millions more sold 82 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: around the world. The sudden success convinced Rob and Fab 83 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: to keep their secret well after their debt had been paid. 84 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: By then, they were addicted to fame and fortune, along 85 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: with actual drugs, and they weren't willing to give up 86 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: the lifestyle. But the truth very nearly came out anyway. 87 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: In the summer of nine, when the group's backing tracks 88 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: started to skip during a live performance, the words girl 89 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: you Know It's True repeated over and over until the 90 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 1: horrified duo finally ran off stage. Concert Goers didn't seem 91 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: bothered by what happened, but the media became suspicious, and 92 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: rumors started to swirl that Rob and Fab may not 93 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: be the ones singing on their record. The incident marked 94 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli, and the 95 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: duo could sense it coming. After winning their Grammy in 96 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: February of Rob and Fab pushed back against Farian, insisting 97 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: that they'd be allowed to sing on their next album. 98 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,119 Speaker 1: The arguments grew more heated throughout the year, eventually leading 99 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: Farian to call it quits and come clean publicly. A 100 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: few days after his press conference in mid November, the 101 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: Recording Academy announced its decision to revoke Milli Vanilli's award. 102 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: Soon after, Rob and Fab called their own press conference, 103 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,239 Speaker 1: where they gave back the physical Grammy awards, a move 104 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: they had been planning even before the Academy's formal announcement. 105 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: Robin Fab suggested the awards be given to the three 106 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: singers who actually performed on the album, but president Michael 107 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: Greene said that wasn't an option. In the aftermath, a 108 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: STA Records claimed it had been unaware of the deception 109 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: the Rob and Fab dispute that no fewer than twenty 110 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: six lawsuits were filed by former fans who claimed the 111 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: record company had tricked them. In the end, a Cook 112 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: County judge approved a class action settlement that entitled thousands 113 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: of customers to partial refunds two dollars for Milli Vanilli cassettes, 114 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: three dollars for CD s, and five percent of the 115 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:34,359 Speaker 1: ticket price for concerts. After going public, Ferry and Capitalized 116 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: on the scandal by releasing a follow up album featuring 117 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,320 Speaker 1: the real singers of the first one. It was titled 118 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: The Moment of Truth and was credited to the real 119 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: Milli Vanilli. As for Rob and Fab, they tried to 120 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: make a comeback two years later, performing for Real on 121 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: the Arsenio Hall Show and releasing a self titled second album. 122 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: That record sold an abysm mold two thousand copies, and 123 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: the duo spiraled deeper into drug abuse. For Rob, that 124 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: descent sadly continued five years later in he died of 125 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: an overdose at the age of thirty three. Fab however, 126 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,959 Speaker 1: managed to get sober and start a new life as 127 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: a public speaker in radio DJ. He even released a 128 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: few solo albums over the next decade or so, though 129 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: none of them approached the success he'd had with Millie Vanilli. 130 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: In a fun twist, Fab actually returned to his controversial 131 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: roots in when he teamed up with John Davis, one 132 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: of the real singers from the Milli Vanilli album. The 133 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: unlikely duo sang together for a series of recordings and 134 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:52,439 Speaker 1: live performances called Face meets Voice, a Milli Vanilli Experience. 135 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: Looking back, the scandal surrounding the group seems overblown. Sure 136 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: it wasn't Rob in Fab's voices on the record, but 137 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: it was them on the stage, entertaining crowds with their 138 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: charm and dance moves night after night. That might not 139 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: have been worth a Grammy, but it should have counted 140 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: for more than the public scorn that dogged them for 141 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: years afterward. For my part, the only thing I hold 142 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: against Milli Vanilli is that ridiculous name, which I've had 143 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: to say way too many times today. But in case 144 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: you're wondering, the name was likely inspired not by a milkshake, 145 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: but by a closed down disco in Berlin, though partial 146 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,440 Speaker 1: credit may also belong to a British pop group called 147 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 1: Scritty Polity. One thing we know for certain is that 148 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 1: the name does not mean positive energy in Turkish, which 149 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,199 Speaker 1: is what Rob and Fab claimed back in the early nineties. 150 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: In reality, Millie means national in Turkish, while Vanilli doesn't 151 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,560 Speaker 1: mean anything at all. It's further proof that when it 152 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: comes to Milli Vanilli, nothing is quite as it seems. 153 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: I'm gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little 154 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. You can 155 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 156 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:23,560 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d I HC Show, and if 157 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: you have any feedback or questions, you can always write 158 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: to me at this Day at i heart media dot com. 159 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank 160 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 161 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: for another Day in History class. For more podcasts from 162 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,239 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 163 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:51,960 Speaker 1: or where ever you listen to your favorite shows.